What seemed like such a great idea when we designed this project – to focus on national parks that lie across or abut national borders – is proving something of a headache today, as the spread of the corona virus has closed down borders and made travel almost impossible. All plans for fieldwork this summer are currently on hold while we await developments. Meanwhile, while we are stuck in Munich, Leeds, and Groningen respectively, the migrating birds are returning to their breeding grounds on the Wadden Sea, bears are perhaps enjoying the decrease in human visitors to the Pyrénées, and bark beetle in the Bavarian Forest remain oblivious of the closed border between the Czech Republic and Germany. It’s a reminder that mobilities are experienced and enacted very differently by different species – something we are hoping to look more into as this project proceeds.

By Katie

The first official project meeting just took place, on 27th February at the University of Leeds. Lots of things to discuss—how to integrate the two new postdoc positions and fieldwork into the project timeline, how to collaborate in co-writing articles, when exactly to hold our first, exploratory workshop. We are looking forward to keeping this site updated as our plans progress!